Natural Holistic Wellness Products Business with Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Hey there entrepreneurs, my name is Sushant and welcome to Treptalks This is a show where I interview successful e commerce entrepreneurs, business executives, and thought leaders, and ask them questions about their business story, and also dive deep into some of the strategies and tactics that they have used.

So to start and grow their businesses. And today I’m really excited to welcome Doc Harmony to the show. Doc Harmony is the founder of HEAL, which stands for Healthy Energy Amazing Life, and they create and sell natural products that promote holistic well being. And today I’m going to ask Doc Harmony a few questions about her entrepreneurial journey and some of the strategies that she has used to start to grow a business.

So let’s get started. Before we dive into this interview, if you enjoy this kind of content, please make sure to hit the like and subscribe button. And for more content like this, please [00:01:00] visit our website, treptalks.com And with that, Doc Harmony, welcome and thank you so much for joining me today at Treptalks Really appreciate your time.

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: Oh, thank you so much. It’s such a joy to be here.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So very interesting business. I’m, I’m very curious to know a little bit about yourself. How did you kind of become Doc Harmony and When did you start this business? What kind of really motivated you to start a natural? So I

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: think as a lot of us old timers in the natural health industry, we started out of necessity.

So when, uh, 30 something years ago, my little boy was very sick with ear infections. He had done three rounds of antibiotics. And on the third round of antibiotics, he started vomiting out those antibiotics. And so that didn’t make sense to me. So I was a single mom at the time and it just wasn’t illogical.

I kept taking my son to the doctors and he kept getting worse. And so I, um, remembered when I, that when I [00:02:00] was 16, that I’d gone to a naturopathic doctor for bronchitis. And I never had bronchitis again. So I thought, well, hopefully he’s still alive and we’ll find him. So I found him and he suggested ear candles.

So at this time I was working at, um, something company, which is one of Which is one of the largest utility companies in the United States. And, um, knew nothing about natural health. So I thought that was the craziest, wildest thing. You want me to light a candle and put it in my kid’s ear? Are you kidding me?

What? And, but I didn’t have any other choices, right? Nothing else was coming up. So we have to remember 30 something years ago, there wasn’t the internet. All this information wasn’t so readily available to us. So I tried the ear candles and I love this story because, you know, I did not believe in it. My, um, part.

So by this time, I had gotten married and my partner at the time was, uh, not happy with me. He thought I was practicing witchcraft [00:03:00] or something. And I gave him a red lollipop, you know, so we know all about the dyes and the sugar and watch the Little Mermaid. So there’s no placebo effect is the point, right?

So I did four ear candles and he’s never had an ear infection again. So I was kind of like intrigued. I thought this was very interesting. And, um, the naturopathic doctor, Dr. Barry Hill, who’s still in Decatur, Georgia, he kept calling upon me and saying, Hey, why don’t you, I’m going to teach you. I, you know, I come from London, the University of London, the hospital in London.

And we used to do this in the seventies with Dr. Trevor. And I would like to teach you what I know about him. So you can sell them. And I’m like, no, no, no, no, no. I’m 25 years old. No at all. And I’m, I’m, you know, very successful and that’s good. Thank you. But he kept calling. So one day I just took him up on his offer and that’s really the beginning of it.

So we just started making ear candles. We moved into a neighborhood and it was [00:04:00] interesting. All the moms, you know, single moms and mothers. You know, just trying to be out of work is such a burden, right? So what can you give your kid when there’s an ear infection, sinus colds, flus, congestion, you know, runny noses, such that they can, you know, go to work the next day or the kids better the next day.

So I’m, we just used them all the time and they just really seem to work. So I then started introducing them to health food stores, uh, because at that time I’d been working on D’Shea. lobbying for the natural right health people because I believe that everybody has a right to choose their own personal health care.

I still didn’t know much. I was still oblivious to it all. But, you know, people have a right to choose. So I knew a lot of health food stores and I said, you know, If I, if I send you some of these, will you sell these? And they’re like, absolutely. And it just was perfect synchronicity. And that’s how we started.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: And so that, uh, so you got started in your business and, uh, almost you’re saying 30, 25 years ago. And it has been a [00:05:00] progression to grow, uh, since then. And now you brought your business, uh, online. Are you, are you now completely online or like what, what is your distribution? Are you also selling in stores and stuff?

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: So we’re B to B as well as B to C. Um, and we do, we are international. We have sold into over 35 countries so far. And, um, we’ve done everything very holistically, uh, grown, very debt free. Um, we just want to, we’ve been on the line for a while, but we just want B to C. I think about five years ago, um, real loyal to our independent retailers.

That’s been our, our, um, main model is really working with the independent retailer, um, small moms and pops, and that could be a small pharmacy, a wellness center, massage center. You know, anyone in that sense of the natural holistic wellness concept. So, um, but we’ve always been tech savvy. So we’ve always been able to be on the internet since its inception.

And, but we just started really selling B2C [00:06:00] about five years ago.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Okay, and, uh, of course you now have a product line. You have a variety of different products. Um, can you talk a little bit about, you know, so you have magnesium, you have ear oils, essential oils, different kind of oils. Uh, of course you have the ear candles.

Can you talk a little bit about your product? What has kind of been the progression? And, um, so you’re saying that you help people mostly with natural wellbeing, like what is kind of your area of, uh, the area of expertise of your products?

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: So, you know, being with the kids, it’s really so we have such a different model, but it really still can work with a lot of people.

And especially, you know, with the incident, there’s so many opportunities instead of thinking about podcasts, getting in your car and going and visiting stores and having field trips with your Children in between. Right? You know, since you’re homeschooling, there’s no schedule per se. So it was really this grand adventure across the United States of, you know, Visiting different [00:07:00] stores and education, education, education, and really being there for the independent retailers such that that they have the knowledge to be able to sell a great product.

with integrity. And so then as we were in the stores and we’re talking with the retailers, we really got to know what they needed. And so that was more like, oh, well, we need an ear oil to go with that. Okay, well, let me work on it. You know, I’m a naturopath. I’m certified in aromatherapy and blending and herbs and all that.

So let’s see what we could create. We created the millennial oil with and without garlic. Um, and then, you know, as we’re ear candling and people are like Oh, gosh, wonder if you breathe eucalyptus while you’re ear candling, right? Oh, wow. That smells amazing. And it opens up the passages and nasal passages and eustachian.

And it just really helps to amplify the healing aspect of it all. And so, you know, so then we introduced our essential ear oil lines. Um, and then as time comes on, so then you’re at trade shows. We did a lot of trade shows. Sometimes we did [00:08:00] 18 trade shows of the year. Woo. I don’t know how I did it at the age of 60.

I look back and go, Oh, yep. If I hadn’t done it, I wouldn’t be sure I was telling the truth, but we didn’t. And it was just amazing. And so we got introduced to different products like the magnesium products. So when we were introduced to it, there was not a lot, there wasn’t any in the United States. So why not import?

So then we learned how to import and we just started importing this product from the Zectine C. Topical magnesium is amazium. It is one of my favorite products. Um, and so it helps with cramps. It helps with your sugar levels, diabetes, heart issues, etcetera. And so, you know, someone who works out and is very active, um, especially during menopause, had a lot of cramps without the magnesium, it would have been quite painful.

So I’m pretty attached to it, but our retailers love it. Our consumers love it. Um, and so we just got introduced to our foot patches. We got introduced to it. Um, plantain cattle. So then my staff, so we’re, we’re a group of women. [00:09:00] So I love, I love our story. We’re a group of women that are committed to proving to the world that women can work together in a loving and compassionate environment and be prosperous.

And so I really, really encourage leadership. I really encourage, you know, thinking outside the box. And so, so we had, um, One of our girls came, our women came up with the plantain cream idea. You know, she’s like, look, I haven’t seen this on Amazon. I haven’t seen this anywhere. And this sells like hotcakes during the summertime.

It helps with bug bites. It helps with, um, eczema, IVs, poison IVs, stings. So it’s just perfect for your purse. You carry it in there. Moms, you, you get to have this first aid kit and everything. I spilled hot grease down my chest about a month ago, the second degree burns. And the first thing I did was layered up with the plantain cream because that’s what was closest to me, followed up with my sovereign silver.

And I have no scoring. You know, it’s just amazing what these holistic products can do. And so I think really [00:10:00] the point that I really like to share with other entrepreneurs is Encourage growth and development in your employees, and we call them our team, you know, and so our team created ideas, and then we created the facial serum idea, and so we have this facial serum with five ingredients.

Now there is no facial serum market on the market that has less than 20 ingredients. I don’t know what people are calling natural, but I can clearly say ours is natural and it’s enhanced with green tea. You know, wow. And, this gives them a sense of ownership. It gives them a sense of pride in creation.

You know, instead of sitting at the desk all day, they get to be a part of creativity. So it’s just really, um, embodying a sense of sisterhood within the, within the work walls. Such that we are prosperous together.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: No, that’s awesome. And, uh, I mean, natural products, you know, I, I come from, um, from India, from, you know, South Asia, [00:11:00] and of course, you know, there’s a, there’s a big culture of, you know, natural products.

I believe in China as well. Um, when you, uh, I mean, is it like your customers, is it more about who kind of believes in which, uh, Which well being methodology, you know, some people are like, you know, I, I don’t believe in natural products. I, I don’t want to use this product, you know, for me, it’s like whatever my doctor prescribes that’s, you know, I believe in that.

Whereas there, there’s other groups of people who believe in natural remedies. Some people believe in homeopathy, you know, all these, some people have like, are you aware that like there’s a wide range of things, um, in terms of effectiveness, like what, what, how do you. Yeah. What do you promise your customers in terms of well being and effectiveness?

Is it, um, you know, as you said, you know, it’s, it’s, you have to be [00:12:00] careful in this where you can make like any, any claims like health claims because, um, you know, that’s because let’s say medicine is regulated, I guess. Um, but. When you’re selling your products and value proposition, do you really use it and try it for yourself and see the benefits?

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: So, you know, that is a tough one. So most of the stuff has been around since the beginning of time, right? We say that the answer to your, your health solutions are there. You just have to find them. And you’re right. A lot of people just rely on their doctor. They say, take this pill. You don’t take this bill.

I just met with a friend of mine, a dear, dear friend of mine. I’m like, something’s wrong with you. You’re just not your normal self. And I said, send me a picture of everything that you’re taking. She was on three prescriptions for decongestants, antihistamines, taking stuff over the counter. I mean, she was so overloaded.

She was like a zombie. Right. And, you know, a couple of the prescriptions, one of the prescriptions said, do not take any other of this type while her doctor prescribed her the [00:13:00] same thing, but a different, a different label. So, you know, you’re like, you know, it’s really my promise or proposition to be responsible for your health.

Because once I find anyone tries something, whether it’s, you know, a sleep patch, it’s a plantain cream, it’s something I don’t have like Arnica or, you know, Sovereign Silver, and they really discover how the body heals itself, you know, with nature, with these products from nature is very empowering. Right?

You’re no longer handing over this power to the medical establishment or your doctor and saying, okay, I’m not going to be responsible anymore. Right? Because if we were responsible, we’d be responsible for what goes in our mouths. We’d be responsible for making sure we sleep. We’d be responsible for our stress loads.

And so getting out of that victim mentality and getting out of that giving up our power mentality. I believe it really is the key [00:14:00] to curing oneself. So we don’t care about anything. You cure everything. No, a doctor can’t cure me. Uh, no thing. Only through taking full responsibility and caring and loving myself enough to be responsible.

And so we really are big on education. That’s why. And I think that most of the people in this industry are. Education is key. Know what you’re doing. Um, when people come to me as a naturopathic doctor and they go, can’t you just give me a supplement? I go, no, I cannot. Right? I cannot. Because then you might as well, you’re just depending on me and I can’t cure you.

Only you can cure you.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Um, no, that’s an interesting point. And, uh, um, I mean, I know you have many different products. Can you talk a little bit about your manufacturing processes? Like where, uh, you know, ultimately it’s a business and you know, you have to have the products manufactured somewhere. [00:15:00] Um, can you talk a little bit about how you are doing this manufacturing in your, you know, you have your own facilities, are you outsourcing them?

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: So we have a lot, we have families that make the ear candles and so we have a training process and that training process, they bring those candles to our facility where we have a three step inspection process. Because as you said, it is obviously still a business and safety is the number one, um, Point for us, you know, we, you know, something we’re liability free for over 30 years.

We’ve had no claims. We’ve had no liability issues, and we’re very proud of that fact. And we believe it’s because of our high quality products as well as, you know, our three step process. So whenever it comes in, there’s a three step process that goes through such that we know exactly who made it, when it was made and it’s tested.

So we’re really, uh, pretty strict about that in regards to our, um, And most [00:16:00] families stay for a very long time, so we don’t have a lot of turnover because they get to work at home, they get to set their own schedule, set their own production, you know, things change. We’ve had, we’ve had people that were paraplegics, we’ve had Native Americans, we have elderly.

We have homeschooled families. We have just a plethora of people. We’ve worked with, uh, disabled, uh, children, uh, young adults, um, where they can, you know, put the burn line labels on or the tips in, you know, so just really providing jobs for people. I call them microeconomic communities. Because, you know, you just supply these little families with, uh, with micro economic freedom, you know, mom who needs to stay at home because she has eight kids, right?

What is she going to do? Right. But yet now she gets to teach her children about responsibility and saving money and how to be responsible and disciplined. And so it’s really these microeconomic communities that blossom in the, in the really rural area communities, because we’re in a very rural area. And so we get people [00:17:00] that come to us and ask for jobs to do these because they know that they have freedom as well as the ability to make income.

Our other products are done in house. We have, you know, young adults that are dyslexic or, you know, don’t have skill sets. And so we really focus on teaching them not just how to do a product, How to time themselves on products. How, what is the labor cost? How does it affect the business? Because, you know, what’s more important that we raise young children to become assembly workers?

No, we have enough people to do that. Young children become educated. Or young adults. I posit young adults become educated and they understand. Oh, if I goof off for an hour, I’ll just wait, you know, I’ve just lost money on making these products. And so we teach them and create forms and we show them how to use them.

And yes, in some ways that takes extra time up front. But in the long run, you create a [00:18:00] team of women that are working diligently. And they become, they, they create games like, Hey, I did 50 in an hour. And she’s like, Oh, I got 60. Right. And so you have this really neat camaraderie that occurs and more importantly, an understanding of how their behavior affects the bottom line.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: For sure. Um, The families that are working, do you ever have any, um, like in terms of inventory control, like, Do you let them know that, you know, I need 100 of this product by this date and, you know, that this is what they’re producing. Like, is that how it works in terms of?

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: Sure. So I want each family, they throw a commitment and there’s the other conversation we get to have, with especially young adults integrity.

Integrity with your word. What does that mean? You know, if you say you’re going to make 100, did you make that 100? Because if you made 50 and I’ve sold 100, guess what? So we are always, we always keep plenty in [00:19:00] stock because life happens, right? Life just happens. Your best worker can catch a cold, right? So we definitely always have, uh, back stock, which I always encourage.

We all have rainy days. We all want to take vacations. We all, stuff happens, weather happens, right? So why would you not have Backstock? So that’s not particularly an issue for us. It’s more important to us to teach people about the integrity of the word. And the other thing that we work really diligently towards is teaching them about inventory, letting them manage the inventory and, and, Pulling those reports and understanding that.

So, you know, a lot of people are worried about the next generation of workers. Well, as someone who’s 60 years old, a baby boomer, I think it’s important. It’s our responsibility to teach them how to understand that, how to do that so that they can make business going forward. So we really. Sometimes people are like, Are you a business?

Are you helping people out? You know, and it’s just really just this fine line between [00:20:00] investing in good people. Um, one of your questions was, you know, what is really our strongest belief or think for our business? Find the right people. Just find the right people. And when you find good people, keep them.

Pay them. Make it worth their while. If your range of salary is only, you know, A, B, and C, give them benefits, time off, comp time, a holiday, bonus, you know, gift cards to dinner for their family. You know, you have a family of somebody, a mother who’s got four or five, six children, a gift card to Longhorns goes a long way to her or something like that, right?

The other thing that we are really clear on is toxic people have to go. They have to go. Toxicity in small businesses doesn’t work because it spreads like wildfire. So we have a rule, there’s no gossiping or backstabbing. And two people have had to not be here any longer as a result of that, because it doesn’t work.

But what that [00:21:00] did create was that the other women blossomed. Because they knew they were safe. They knew that they could continue working on being the best version of themselves because it was a safe environment and they weren’t going to have somebody back, you know, backstabbing them or picking at them or trying to demoralize them.

And so those are some of the really big things that we really emphasize. You’re going to be at your job for 40 hours a week. Why be miserable? We all have to work, right? And it might not be your favorite job even. But at least it can be an environment in which you can thrive.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: No, that’s, I think that’s a, that’s a great, um, uh, way that you’re doing it.

Um, but I would assume, like, I’m just trying to envision it, I, and I’m thinking it must be a little bit difficult to manage, like, people who are working on their own. But I, I guess, as you said, you know, if you find the right people, maybe it’s not that difficult. So. No,

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: really, we just don’t have [00:22:00] those issues, people, like I said, you find the right people.

And if somebody says, Oh, I’ll be there Tuesday and they never show up, or I’ll be there Tuesday again, they never show up, they’d be, it’s just a simple conversation. Hey, this isn’t going to work out, you know, wow. Thanks for trying. We really appreciate you, you know, and, and we always leave as friends, right?

But if you’re, if, if we’re looking for people that say, if I’m going to be there Tuesday at 10, they’re going to be there Tuesday at 10 delivering, you know, 10, 000 ear candles, right? Okay. If, if somebody says that they’re going to deliver. I just had a mom. She just delivered her third child. She does our plantain creams.

Right. And, um, but we know that. So we’re ahead. Right. And we get, we know for nine months, she’s pregnant. No, she’s going to give birth to a baby. So we can plan for that. And we just don’t have, um, you know, we just don’t have those issues. Everybody, there are processes. Now, we’re very firm on our processes. You have to fill out, you know, the forms, what you brought in, when you [00:23:00] brought it in.

Everything has to be dated, of course. Who did it? Where the raw materials were pulled, you know, and you know, we have GMP processes to uphold to and they do that. And if they don’t, it’s a conversation. This is very simple and usually they go. Oh, I forgot. Oh, the kids got in my way. Something like that.

Right. And so it’s just, uh, we really don’t have. Everybody is so fantastic and so grateful that they get the freedom to design their own lives around a job, or like the job works around their life instead of the job being their life, that they’re so grateful that it just kind of works out.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: No, that’s, that’s, that sounds great.

Um, what have you learned about, well, before I go there, um, you know, you mentioned that your business is mostly B2B. Um, can you talk a little bit about, um, your strategy behind B2B versus B2C? And is it really because B2B is more [00:24:00] profitable for you?

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: So B2B is great. We love B2B. We’re so lucky to be in this industry.

First of all, doing sales B2B with natural health owners and independent retailers and wellness people is like a dream. You know, they’re nice. They’re compassionate. They’re understanding. They’re, we’re all busy, but we, they just have such big hearts. It’s a great industry. And so really when we’re dealing with B2B, it’s just putting the samples into their hand, putting the product into their hand.

We’re full of, our philosophy is the more we put out, the more we get back, right? You know, just give it away up front, have them try it. So we have an extremely high close rate. Um, just by putting the product in the customer’s hand, uh, B to B, uh, is, is more profitable because it’s more volume. It’s just volume.

It’s just, it’s a numbers game. Correct. Right. And I think that’s with any business. Um, [00:25:00] The contrast between B and C, it’s interesting. Uh, we pull the reports, uh, weekly, monthly, and it’s fascinating. You’ve got what the consumers like compared to what the retailer, retailers want in the store are always different.

And we will go to the retailers and we’ll say, look, the consumers are buying this. And they’re like, Not here. Okay. So it’s really, uh, fascinating how the consumer shop extremely differently than the retailers purchase. So that’s been interesting to observe.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: And is it also different from retailer to retailer or location to location that in one part of the country you have retailers selling a completely different Or, you know, a different set of products, whereas the other part of the country, you have a different set of products that are selling more.

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: Absolutely. And it’s seasonal, right? So right now, plantain, wherever it’s hot, plantain selling like hotcakes. Everybody just, they can’t get enough because everybody’s outdoors, [00:26:00] right? So they’re getting sunburned. They’re getting skin issues or there’s. Leaves are scratching up against the bugs biting them.

So, you know, they just get to rub that on winter time. You’re going to see more of the ear candling because the colds are going to come on. Sinuses are going to come on. Ear infections are going to come on. I think that more in the cities are facial serum. So, yes. So then you have a different geographic blend.

You got more city people versus your rural people buying different products. Um, So it is. It’s all very fascinating. We look at what’s selling seasonally, what’s selling, you know, uh, north versus south or east versus west. And there, there are some very distinct contrasts, um, differences. And then we have to go in.

We do social media. We do our Google ads. We do run our A B testing. And so that becomes a little, um, Challenging because there is no flat rule across the whole board. There is, you know, [00:27:00] the and and and our market of people are personas per se of buyers are so different. You can have someone that’s, you know, an elderly, you know, 8090.

Who, who needs magnesium versus somebody who is a pregnant mom, right? And she’s rubbing it on her tummy for, uh, for the, to help prevent preeclampsia, for example, whereas an elderly might be using it for restless leg syndrome. So, you have this big difference. So, sometimes it is, I think the biggest difficulty that we have with social media and the SEO aspect of it is, uh.

There’s such a wide range, right? There’s a huge range of customers. And so one ad isn’t going to work for everybody. You know, you have to have a variety of them and they have to run at different times and they have to run in different seasons.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: For sure. For sure. Um, your B2B [00:28:00] customers, um, I know you spoke a little bit about, you know, the way you kind of, uh, find new customers, you know, maybe send them samples or something like that.

Um, What is your sales strategy to, to get into, um, or, or to acquire new B2B customers?

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: So we’re still old school and it just works, you know, we just pick up the phone and we call and we talk to the buyer. We’ve been in this industry long enough that we have a really strong reputation. Uh, we’re pretty well known.

We’re not in every store, you know, but, uh, we can approach every store and, um, 90 percent of the time they’re going to take samples, right? And so then it’s just a matter of developing that relationship and explaining, um, about our products and the education of it. So, we just really treat it as a gift.

First of all, these retailers are out there and they’re educating the consumers. They are on the front lines making the world a healthier place. [00:29:00] So, you know, if they buy, great. If they become a customer, fantastic. If not, here’s a present. Enjoy it. And keep keep making the world a better place. You know, so I think that that really are our way.

We look at things. It’s just a little bit different, but it really works. And, um, and we, and we still, but still on the flip side, we still have sales numbers. We still have quotas. We still have to have you make these many calls a day. We make these many orders. So, you know, as, as, as, um, esoteric as it might sound, I think you can’t combine.

The esoteric aspects of it with the fundamental processes that are required to be successful. And so that’s what we try to do. But our main goal is to make relationships, speak to the buyer, get to know the buyer. What are their needs? What are their customer needs and provide that? And so whether and then we’ll, we try to do webinars for them.

We [00:30:00] try to provide them with literature. We try to provide them with videos, whatever it is that they need for their stores. That’s our goal is to be there for them.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Makes sense. Um, do you sell on any of these marketplaces like amazon or uh, I’m sure there are marketplaces for like Natural health products as well.

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: Yeah, so Amazon, Walmart, Uh, Etsy, Shopify, well, Shopify is our platform who, I mean, like all, I guess if you just name them, you know. Uh, Fair, Fair has been fantastic for us. Uh, Fair, Fair is really neat. It’s, um, I think we’re, You know, you’ve got me and there’s where your big people can be. You’ve got a Walmart or range me.

You’ve got Sam’s club. You’ve got, you know, all the big, uh, whole foods and all the big buyers are there. Right. And so you get a chance for your opportunities to be seen there. Uh, but that’s still hard. Whereas fair, you can get orders on a regular [00:31:00] basis from them because they’re smart, they’re once again, they’re small mom pops, right.

They’re the, the, the, what I call it kind of like the backbone of America. You know, all the shops that you pass by and everybody has a niche. So, and I think that the natural health, um, category is absolutely expanding. And so you have a product like facial serum or you have a product like, uh, magnesium.

These can go in a lot more places than just an independent health food store. It can go into a pharmacy. It can go into a chiropractic office. It can go into gift shops. You know, gift shops now have their own, um, their own natural health section. Um, the gas station shops, you know, especially I don’t know how it’s like in the city, but in the rural areas, they now have natural health sections, right?

And they, they’re really expanding that area because this is a category that’s really growing. So we just find that, um, you know, all of it is growing and expanding and it’s just been full of [00:32:00] opportunities and great for us. So.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: That’s, that’s awesome. Um, I know you talked a little bit about your team. Uh, can you talk a little bit, um, I mean the people who work for you are, do you consider them your employees?

Are they contractors? And then your team that runs your corporate? Uh, can you talk a little bit about your team and what is of your team? So day to day, so we

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: have team, yes. And everything is cor you know, one thing you just don’t do, you just, there’s just corporate guidelines and you follow ’em. You know, it is what it is.

You posts what you gotta post and you. You file what you have to file and you pay the people to do all that so that, you know, we could just have fun working together. And so, yes, everybody is employees. Um, and so all of that is done. Um, The accountants handle all that, et cetera. And so, um, but we try not to kind of label each other that way.[00:33:00]

We just really work on creating a team that works, right? So, um, you will never hear us, anyone here going, Oh, well, you’re just an employee. Because nobody here is just a number. Right? So we do, but this is the world we live in, right? So how do you live in this world and not treat people like numbers? How do you live in this world and be in full compliance, which is, you know, obviously we all have to be and yet still create an environment that is not, everybody feels like a number.

So that’s been our goal. You know, let’s just let the experts handle that so that we can all do what we do best, which is Work in a loving and compassionate environment that’s prosperous.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: But, um, on a day to day basis, like, what is your focus? Are you, um, as the CEO, I’m assuming you’re the CEO, uh, are you focused?

I’m the founder. Growth. Okay.

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: Yep. So I’m the founder. And so what I do day to day is growth and development.

Track 1: Okay.

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: And [00:34:00] so my other title is orchestrator of solutions. Oh, there’s a problem. Okay. All right. You’re the bookkeeper. So there’s a problem. Something came up with the taxes today. All right. So how do you think, what would you do if I wasn’t here?

How would you figure that out? Well, okay. And then you have a conversation. So the whole goal is to recreate yourself and as many different people as you possibly can. Right? So if it’s just, that’s the only way to grow. You can’t grow if you’re doing everything, if one person’s doing everything, right? So yeah.

Teaching them how to think, teaching them how to find solutions, teaching them how to think outside the box is probably my main, my main role here. So, to help them to become the best version of themselves, to help them to become the best bookkeeper, to become the best salesperson. Okay, well this customer said no.

Oh, well why did they say no? Well, this, this, this, and this. [00:35:00] Okay, well we can handle this and this. Call them back. Let them know about we can handle, you know, no shipping and we can handle, you know, monthly education classes, whatever. Let’s create something that works, right? And so it’s always working with each person, each team person, no matter if they’re the one making the plantain cream, the ear candles, or they’re running the office, right?

The office management. So everybody in between, because we all get stuck with blinders, right? We all only. think we know what we know and it’s in the realm of what we don’t know that we don’t know that the whole solution lies. So that’s my goal.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Can you talk a little bit about your warehousing and shipping?

Um, so, so you have people making the products. Do you have like a central warehouse where you house everything? And then how, how do you ship?

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: So we ship everything from Georgia and we don’t have any drop shipping or anything. We do do drop shipping. So that’s interesting. We have a lot of [00:36:00] affiliates or little, um, you know, people with newsletters, you know, so they’ll, they’ll make an advertisement for us or something like that.

Um, and that’s fun. We, so we do that for smaller people. Um, but everything just ships out. P. S. U. S. P. S. We do not use FedEx because they bless their hearts. They just can’t seem to get it together here in this area. So there’s a known issue. Um, and and here’s what we found about shipping FedEx used to be king, right?

You if you wanted it to get there on time, you know, 20 years ago, you use FedEx right now in my area, you use FedEx. They just lost six laptops, right? It, we still can’t find them. Right. So it’s like, wow, what happened to FedEx and UPS? What in between that time really dominated now, USPS is dominating because they came out with a ground advantage.

Right. So it’s just really. Regrettably in [00:37:00] that arena there, there’s minimal loyalty because it’s all about pricing and what’s best for the customer, right? How to get the product to the customer on time. Properly right and that that’s something that we diligently work on freight forwarding, you know, finding a good freight forwarder and finding a great Florida that will fire file your forms finding a freight forwarder that will, you know, file all the proper papers customs broker that when you’re importing that knows all the exceptions of the regulation so that you’re not overtaxed pay what you’re supposed to, but, you know, you’re over to, you know, nobody wants to be overtaxed.

Right? So it’s, it’s just finding the right people. Once again. That is one of our number one philosophies, find the right people and that extends to your partnerships, you know, whether that be shipping, whether that be freight forwarding, whether that be importing and our customs brokers, um, and, and, and just finding the right people that work at a good quality and at good prices.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: For [00:38:00] sure. Um, you mentioned that you are focused primarily on growth. Um, what does your future vision for your business look like? Like, how do you see your business, like, let’s say five years down the road?

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: So really, our goal is eventually that, um, The next generation of the team. So they’re about 30 40 right now that they’ll actually be the ones that will be teaching the next generation of workers of team and creating the same environment.

For for other people that like that, not some people want to go to a job and clock in and clock out and forget about it. Right. Other people want to create an environment that works right. That works for them that that that is fulfilling to them. Um, and so our goal is to create the next team to take that leadership on and become those future leaders.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. Uh, in every entrepreneurial journey, [00:39:00] there’s always mistakes made, lessons learned, failures. Um, what have been like, uh, a big failure or mistake that you can remember from like recent time? I know you’ve been running your business for a long time, but, uh, um, what is like a mistake or failure that you think you could have, uh, done without?

What was the lesson for you? What, uh, what can other entrepreneurs learn from your mistakes?

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: So when I first started And so I’m young, right? I don’t have any idea what I’m doing, but I think I know everything. So that’s mistake number one. Thinking that, you know, everything not having clear mentors, um, and and really undervaluing and underpricing, like, not not understanding distribution, not understanding how to set up the price.

Of course, all this has been corrected since then. But that took a bit to correct. Right? First, you had to figure out that you did it. And then you’re like, oh my gosh, [00:40:00] we can’t play the distribution game, right? Or we can’t play, um, you know, we, we just didn’t even know. I didn’t even know. Uh, so kind of being ignorant, um, in a real innocent way about how businesses run.

And so that’s what’s really neat about the internet. You could read, how, how do I set up pricing? You know, and then how do I set a pricing if I’m a wholesaler? How do I set a pricing if I’m a manufacturer? How do I set a pricing if I’m a retailer? And it really walks you there. It’s just formulas. It’s no big secret.

It’s not like rocket science or anything. But if you don’t know, you don’t know. Right? You know, and so that was probably 1 of our, um, Bigger error, you know, biggest error probably coming out, uh, initially, like I said, over the years has been corrected, but that that was the big one. Um, and not understanding the role that distribution would play.

You’re talking 35 years ago, right? Everything was much more handshakes back then. [00:41:00] Everything was much logistics were a lot closer. Um, and so really, and I think that’s another thing. The Internet has done. Wow. You know, now we could see the whole world. If you want to, you really can see the global platform not seeing the global platform, even though my 1st degree was in international studies in a minor business.

So it was about 10, Probably 10, easily 10, 15 years before we went international, right? And I’m like, oh, okay, yeah, we can do that. But not getting that you can do that. So it didn’t occur until halfway through. So those were some of the mistakes. And I don’t know that they were mistakes. It was just a lack of education or information or something like that.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: No, I think, I think that’s a good, good advice for entrepreneurs. It’s like, you know, anybody who starts, they don’t know everything. Right. And it’s, it’s a process. Like even if you take all the precautions and everything, it’s [00:42:00] like, um, you have to learn, you know, you have to, you don’t know what you don’t know.

And so sometimes it’s like, you, you know, you learn through failures and mistakes and, uh, and improvement. Um, Now, I’m going to move on to our rapid fire segment. In this segment, I’m going to ask you a few quick questions and you have to answer them maybe in a word or a sentence or so. So, the first one is, uh, one book recommendation for entrepreneurs and why.

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: So perfect. Segway built to sell, you know, by, uh, John, uh, John Rurillo, I think a Colin Morgan, so built to sell because eventually you’re going to age and you might want to sell it, you know? And I think that the built to sell concept really introduces to you a lot of things you might not know as a beginner.

You might not know you want to have your corporation set up and make sure that all your resolutions are done properly and make sure that your filings are done every year and make sure your taxes are done every year. So then in 10 years, when you want to sell, [00:43:00] you get audited and they go, well, where’s all your tax bonds?

Yeah, well, that’s like, you’re not gonna be able to sell it, right? Something that’s a simple example, but, you know, really setting yourself up to sell to be able to sell, I think is a great book.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Yeah. And, uh, and I think, uh, some of my previous, uh, um, guests have also mentioned that book and I, I guess, you know, if you, if you, I think it’s a good, good way to think about business.

You know, if you’re doing the right things, you know, you have to set things up properly and, and, uh, and that’s, you know, uh, different people have different goals and yeah, if somebody’s goal is to sell, I think it’s definitely good to have, uh, or really the built

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: to sell concept is that you set it up such that the processes and your team.

Right. That it’s not surrounding you. So many small to medium sized businesses, whoever the founder is or whoever the owner is, or whatever it, they’re the central point. And if they were to pass or they were needing to retire for whatever reason, the company fails, right? Built to [00:44:00] sell and lay enables a person to continue the legacy without them.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: For sure. Uh, an innovative product or idea in the current e commerce, retail, or tech landscape that you feel excited about.

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: That’s a really hard question. Um, I think that there’s so much stuff coming out. Um,

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: are you excited about like any, any new technology that you’re using in your business or a product that you feel excited about?

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: You know, really? I’m not. I’m such an old school person. I prefer to garden. I prefer to put my hands in the dirt.

I prefer, uh, I, you know, to pick up the phone and call somebody. Um, What I do these kinds of things. I want to see you. I don’t want to see a black square. You know what I mean? Like, it’s just, um, I think that is amazing. The technology. I think that there are some things coming out. You’ve got a whole whole home batteries coming out, you know, batteries that can run the whole companies and batteries.

[00:45:00] Um, you’ve got, um, I read the art, an article about, um, Hyundai has air taxis that they’re working on. That’d be super fun. But does that affect my business? No, I just think it’s, I think there’s some cool products, but what would affect my business? You know, our software is pretty good. You know, uh, Um, and it still is a little old school, right?

Because it, you know, I know sales force is the big thing. Um, you know, numbers, numbers, numbers and reports, reports, reports. I think those sometimes those things are really still outpriced for the small business that there’s other ways to do Excel is such a powerful tool. If you really knew how to use it properly.

You know how many other software products would you need for reporting, right? It’s just a powerful tool. So we really try to use our tools that we have to their full capacities. And they’re just the basics. So nothing really.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: No, I think I think that makes sense. It doesn’t have to be related to [00:46:00] your To your business, but I do think the air

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: taxi will be cool.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Air taxi sounds pretty cool. And I know some other businesses also are working on similar concepts. It would be interesting to, to live in a world where, you know, you have, um, now. You know, self driving cars, and then you have remote taxis. It’s like really going to be the world of Jetsons, I guess, right?

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: Yes, that’s what I was thinking.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Um, a business or productivity tool or software that you would recommend or a productivity tip?

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: So, I think that the most important thing to, and it’s not directly related to productivity, but I cannot tell you how many small businesses and medium sized businesses that I know of personally and read about in the paper all the time that get hacked.

They don’t have their backups. Um, they’re not secure. I mean, I, we constantly change our passwords. Every single person, um, you know, team player that’s here has their own, uh, password [00:47:00] protector, their own program. They’re not to share that with anyone. They’re not to give, share their passwords. I mean, and I know that that just almost sounds borderline paranoid, but at the end of the day, We live in a world.

Look at the dealerships. The car dealerships just got hacked recently. They’ve been down for three weeks. Three weeks. So small to me. I don’t even know how they’re going to survive that a small to medium sized business could not survive a hack. So losing data. Can you imagine losing your your QuickBooks file?

Could you imagine losing all your education marketing material? Backups, backups, backups. I mean, we we have backup after backup. I think the other thing that’s really important in terms of productivity is owning your own cloud, you know, really, if you want to have a cloud fine, but have your own as a backup, I just, once again, don’t think that you can have enough.

Um, security in this day and age, um, the other thing, you know, uh, I tell employees all the time, you know, if you [00:48:00] want to yell at your husband on your text and it’s going through your desktop, desktop, don’t do it, right? Just don’t do it. Um, things show up and then, and then it can affect your personal life.

So I’m just really clear on that. Um, teaching your we also have a software program that teaches everyone how not to click on things. You know, we get phishing emails all the time, spam emails all the time and how to, you know, simply hover over things, how to, you know, not reply, but go to the actual if UPS is saying you owe a bill, go to the UPS.

com and log in properly and see if there’s a bill. It sounds really simple, but I think that in the long run, that advice will save a small to medium sized business. More money than they would ever spend in the upfront cost of implementing those types of systems.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: And that is so important now, as you said, you know, it’s not just small in business.

I think all businesses now, especially big corporations, like, uh, they had, they [00:49:00] are establishing security departments and experts to kind of fight, you know, cyber crime. And so it’s, it’s becoming more and more, I think it will become more important as, you know, now you have AI, you know, trying to hack your system.

So, yeah. Um, a startup or business in e commerce retail or tech that you think is currently doing great things.

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: So it’s not a start. I think that Dr. McCullough is a great Dr. McCullough dot com. He’s amazing. And if you could have him on your show, this is just a super guy. He was totally mainstream medical doctor.

And, um, he was one of the fallouts from the whole, when Google started changing their ads and their authority and authorization and really started changing the game of how you could run. No, number one all the time. Right? And now I think and now he’s really had to change watching him transition from who he was to who he is today has been a powerful and [00:50:00] amazing example.

How how even under the cancel culture, even underneath the Google controls, even underneath all these things. obstructions that people in the natural health industry may have, or, you know, whatever side of the field you’re on, you may have, that there are always creative ways to get back on top, right? And Dr.

McCullough has really done such an amazing job. I, I, he’s the one email that I read every single day because I learn something new every single day.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: That’s awesome. Um, I mean, I was going to ask you a peer entrepreneur, a business person whom you look up to or someone who inspires you, but it seems like, you know, you’ve already answered your question, uh, unless you have another person that you, you know, I’m really,

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: I, I’m a firm believer.

Do not reinvent the wheel. I’m not afraid to ask for help, and I’m not afraid to ask, Hey, how’d you do it? Tell me your story, right? I mean, there’s just only so many ways to skin a [00:51:00] cat, right? So why not listen to these experts? I’ve been really blessed from some amazing, amazing mentors. I’ve always had a, what’s that called?

You know, where you have a body, your people around you that you can kind of go to, uh, when you need to for advice. Um, annual visits so that you’re like, I just, I tell my team, I’m like, well, I’m going to go get my ass handed to me. I’m going to figure out. They’re going to tell me all the things I’m doing wrong.

Right?

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Right.

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: Something like, yeah, it’s not that formal, but, um, you know, and it’s just having that type of people in your life that, you enough to say, Hey, that’s really probably not the best thing to do. So, um, but you know, so I have a lot of people that really have just the person who I do follow, I will tell you this, I learned a lot diary of a CEO.

CEO. Stephen Bartlett, like he’s amazing. Like every time you watch his show, you just learn something so fantastic. Don’t [00:52:00] you? And so I just really, that is another person that I do watch, um, on a regular basis.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Yeah. He, he has some really interesting guests and he asks some great questions for sure. Final question.

What is the best business advice that you have ever received or you would give to other entrepreneurs?

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: Um, like I was saying earlier, uh, the best, I’ll never forget we were in New York. We were snow skiing with this fellow that we had met. He was a very successful businessman and we were just enthralled with all his stories.

And it’s all in the stories that you learn, right? The best way to learn is to tell a great story. And, um, and he just said, look, You know, just find good people, pay them well and treat them well, treat them better than family. And you, that is how you will be successful. And so we’ve just really worked on, like I said earlier, finding the right people, finding that team of leadership that wants to carry on that posterity and that legacy and getting [00:53:00] rid of the ones that got in their way.

Right. And making sure that they could grow and prosper in a safe and loving and compassionate environment and just investing in them. Our team loves the fact that we’re willing to invest in them. We send them to landmark forums. We send them to Sterling. We send them to wherever we think Tony Robbins, you know, where are you going to get the best.

For you at this time in your life to be the best version of yourself. And it’s like the better they are, the happier they are, the more wholesome they are. All of it. My gosh, they’re just going to show up better at work, aren’t they? Right? You know, I mean, it’s. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s just as a win win and it makes the world a better place.

So that is really the best business advice that we’ve received and we’ve implemented.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. Well, Doc Harmony, those were all the questions that I had. And, uh, um, thank you so much for your time today, for sharing your stories, for sharing your insights, successes, failures. If anybody is looking to do [00:54:00] business with you, you know, try out your products, what is the best way they can do that?

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: Oh, I would love it. Visit our website at www. myhealshop. com. That’s myhealshop. com and that’s where all of our products are at and our stories and education and I hope everybody enjoys.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. Well, Doc Harmony, thank you so much again and yeah, wish you all the very best in your business.

Doc Harmony of Healthy Energy Amazing Life: Oh, thank you so much.

Thank you.